This dog knows.He just knows. He is here to unlearn everything.He knows that time spent running on the sand, is timeWell spent.He knows that the lead kept in the drawer , will neverBe the boss of him.He knows that 2 and 2 are a pointless exercise.He knows that pockets just weigh you down .He knows that what a dog says is what he means.His whole life is a meditation .He wants to travel , but always remain here , by the fire.He wants to understand the pictures in the flames.When he unravels string , or chews up a box This is his way of saying – I am alive and I love you.More string and boxes would improve the world.Never assume that there will always be tomorrowTo run on the sand. Empty your pockets, bark while you can .And run.

BIO:

Helen Burke has been writing poetry for 42 years she also writes short stories, comedy sketches, plays, and does painting and visual art. She has a new collection called “Today the Birds Will Sing ” coming out with Valley Press in the next couple of months.

Her work has been widely published and anthologised. She has won a number of competitions such as Manchester International, Norwich, Suffolk, the Yorkshire prize, Southport Comedy, Jersey, Devon & Dorset, Torbay and many others.

Her work has been published and distributed in America by www.origamipoems.com, based on Rhode Island, she has 15 chap books with them, having formerly read at Roots in Providence. She has recently been made an honorary member of Ocean State Poets

BIO: Neil Ellman is a poet from New Jersey. He has published numerous poems, more than 1,000 of which are ekphrastic and written in response to works of modern art, in print and online journals, anthologies and chapbooks throughout the world. His most recent chapbook is Of Angels & Demons: The Art of Paul Klee as Poetry (Flutter Press)

We meet the four of them in the green room ..
And they seem amazed we are there .
They are each like jewelled butterflies , fluttering and vying
For attention . But if you ask ….
They will deny this .
They are modest , unassuming ..one wears a child’s bow in her hair.
Another patent leather shoes. The fourth older one looks glum.
Already they have started being nice to her …
So she knows its all over ..bar the shouting .
The pretty one makes us coffee but forgets to put the coffee in ..
It’s all such a joke to her.
The famous guy comes in …they all slink past him , brush a breast , a leg against him
In case he’s in any doubt.
He’s not.
We try and ask about the play ..but they are like bucking broncos
And we get nowhere.
The pretty one is nibbling a lettuce and air sandwich ..the older one munches down
A massive Cornish pasty . The other two share couscous like some kind
Of shamanic ritual . Hollywood ..Hollywood ..one laughs …
That’s where I’m bound. Her voice is like a fork being put back in a drawer
The wrong drawer. Charming is as charming does the older one mutters ,
Bits of pasty clinging to her leotard.
They all cross and uncross legs like a disease and flick their hair
And smile as if we are mental patients ..to be tolerated as an interlude
In their incredible journey lives.
They will not remember us within the hour .
The spotlight shines from their unforgiving eyes.
A tree falls in the room .
A dead body is lugged in and left to bleed.
They step over both . Kick their legs up high .
Head for the beckoning stage.

BIO:

Helen Burke has been writing poetry for 42 years she also writes short stories , plays, comedy sketches and does painting and visual art. She has a new collection called “Today the Birds Will Sing ” coming out with Valley Press in the next couple of months.

Her work has been widely published and anthologised. She has won a number of competitions such as Manchester International, Norwich, Suffolk, the Yorkshire prize, Southport Comedy, Jersey, Devon & Dorset, Torbay and many others.

Her work has been published and distributed in America by www.origamipoems.com, based on Rhode Island, she has 15 chap books with them, having formerly read at Roots in Providence. She has recently been made an honorary member of Ocean State Poets

Dawn is heating us up
the still breeze
is a memory off shore
another dog day
in an unsure August.

HOLDING ON

With a fragile flower
you hold on to
here in the windy city
at the zen garden
so why fear
the early morning
when we put on
Dusty Springfield,
it was a long icy winter
which finally passed away
at the early hour
along Lake Michigan
love glances at your guest
from the beach house
as we remove our swimsuits
together and dive off
the dock,
on your quivering face
there is a limpid smile
you had in sleep.

BIO: JD DeHart is a writer and teacher. His chapbook, The Truth About Snails, is available from RedDashboard. You can visit one of his many blogs, http://rustedroselit.blogspot.com/, and submit your own writing there.

I am having a Van Gogh moment when
all the flowers are leaping out from the soil
and capturing the sun and the rain –
and the blue flowers dance their way out of pain –
Yes, Yes ! ,I am having a Van Gogh moment.
I am in control , I tell myself , shout , in dribs and drabs
but the fireplace keeps talking to me and the dancers little hands
(I brought her in from the rain ) through the mirror, they are laughing .
And the letter I write is a spiders revenge.
I am having a Van Gogh moment.
Surprise, surprise !! sings the café owners dog
and the rippling corn of the green sea beckons me,
and the stars in my eyes whirl like oysters and
the clams Gaugin has brought us for tea
are repeating their alphabet by twos and by threes.
I am having a Van Gogh moment.

BIO:

Helen Burke has been writing poetry for 42 years she also writes short stories , plays, comedy sketches and does painting and visual art. She has a new collection called “Today the Birds Will Sing ” coming out with Valley Press in the next couple of months.

Her work has been widely published and anthologised. She has won a number of competitions such as Manchester International, Norwich, Suffolk, the Yorkshire prize, Southport Comedy, Jersey, Devon & Dorset, Torbay and many others.

Her work has been published and distributed in America by www.origamipoems.com, based on Rhode Island, she has 15 chap books with them, having formerly read at Roots in Providence. She has recently been made an honorary member of Ocean State Poets